The Challenge Contest: Judges

Mia Pearson is the co-founder of North Strategic. She has more than two decades of experience in creating and growing integrated communications agencies, and her experience spans many sectors, including financial, technology, consumer and lifestyle.

Ms. Pearson was formerly president of the Canadian region, overseeing operations for Fleishman-Hillard Canada and its sister company, High Road Communications. In 2010, she saw Fleishman-Hillard receive a Best Place to Work Award, and one of High Road's employees was named the Industry's Most Creative Canadian. The same year, Ms. Pearson was named one of Canada's Top 100 most powerful women by the Women's Executive Network.

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In 1996, she co-founded High Road Communications, one of Canada's leading public relations agencies, which she sold to Fleishman-Hillard in 2000. In January, 2008, Ms. Pearson took on her role as president of the Canada region.

Ms. Pearson serves on the board of the Trans Canada Trail, the Canadian Advanced Technology Association (CATA) and Marketing Magazine. She is an active participant in the Rotman School of Business Judy Project, and she presents regularly on the topic of advancing women in business.

A mother of two and avid outdoor sports enthusiast, she is passionate about the environment and creating a sustainable future for her children. She loves spending time at her cottage, snowboarding and boating with her family.

Stuart MacDonald

Stuart is an independent business advisor and investor, with a focus on online and web-enabled businesses. His Clients and Investee companies range from online start-ups through to Canada's largest media and telecommunications organizations, primarily at the Senior Executive and Board level. Stuart also co-founded of mesh, "Canada's Web Conference," happening annually in Toronto, for which Stuart also produces the marketing content, conducts keynote interviews and moderates panels.

Stuart is also founder and CEO of Tripharbour Ltd., operator of Tripharbour.ca and Tripharbor.com, the web's first online cruise vacation e-commerce and community site, with a head office in Toronto and development team in Vancouver.

Prior to this, Stuart was Founder of Expedia.ca, starting in his home and growing that business into both the most successful online travel company in Canada and the most successful local Expedia unit in the world. Stuart created and then executed the business plan, recruited the start-up team, built out local infrastructure, established inventory relationships, developed the marketing strategy and drove product development that enabled Expedia.ca to develop into one of Canada's largest and most profitable online ventures.

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Mark Healy

Mark Healy is a partner at Satov Consultants, a consultancy with practice areas in Corporate Strategy, Customer Strategy and Operations Strategy. An industry veteran, Mark has worked hard to build a practice that delivers unique go-to-market strategies. He brings 12 years of senior consulting and leadership experience to the table - plus a penchant for loud socks and a healthy obsession with NFL football. He also prides himself on pushing beyond the status quo to achieve something greater in his personal and professional life.

From the day he won a scholarship to Bishop's College School and left his Quebec hometown, population 500, Healy has followed two simple mantras: "no lazy thinking" and "focus on the fundamentals". This commitment to excellence has led to numerous awards, including the prestigious Graduate Business Foundation's International Leadership Award, and a nomination for Canada's Top 40 Under 40™ award. Healy is a Globe and Mail strategic marketing expert, writing a twice monthly column for ReportonBusiness.com. With a gregarious style and a passion for making new connections, Healy has also become Chair of the Ivey Alumni Association Board of Directors where he has initiated a new, large-scale annual program: Global Ivey Day.

Healy is an Ivey Scholar graduate of the Ivey MBA program and a graduate of the Chemical Engineering Program at Queen's University.

Noel Hulsman

Noel Hulsman is the editorial manager of the Globe and Mail's Custom Content Group, a cross-departmental initiative focused on creating and monetizing content. His responsibilities include developing finance, technology, small business and management-focused editorial for print, digital and magazine platforms. Noel was the Globe's small business editor from 2005 to 2009. Prior to joining the Globe, He was the editor of BCBusiness magazine in Vancouver. He has an M.A. in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Waterloo and a B.A. in political science from McGill University in Montreal.

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Jim Senko

Jim Senko has a wide ranging mandate within TELUS. He currently maintains 2 key roles in the organisation including leading the Business Mobility portfolio for both Small to Medium Business and Enterprise as well as leading the SMB marketing team across Canada. In this capacity he drives pricing, channel, and marketing programs with the aim to increase profitable growth in the mobility space through smartphone, mobile broadband and application adoption .

Prior to joining TELUS, Jim was Vice President and leader of Cap Gemini's Telecommunications practice in the UK, where he was responsible for business development, delivery and people development for a UK Telecom & Media consulting practice. Prior to that, also with Cap Gemini, he spent 4 years as a senior project, client and team manager accountable for business development and delivery of strategic and operational change for clients in the telecommunications and media industry group. His background includes over 10 years of international management experience with Tier 1 Consulting firms including KPMG.

Jim has a BSc, Operations Management from The Pennsylvania State University, and lives in Toronto with his wife and son.

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